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ISSUE 002THE MERIDIAN BRIEF
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Africa’s legal market, in focus.
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Edition 2 | 3 October 2026
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THE IP IS THE PRICE.
This edition starts with a question most deal announcements never answer: what was actually bought? Meridian has tracked 99 IP-linked transactions across Africa over the past two years. In the largest of them, the brand, the broadcast rights or the code set the price, even when the press release talked about shares.
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We have also published the second edition of the Meridian Lawyer Index and our first Africa IP ranking, and followed two Nigerian stories readers asked about most: the ProvidusUnity merger and NNPC's Project Delta.
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COVER STORY
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Only 20 of the 99 records disclose a value, together worth about US$8bn. The largest are not labelled as IP deals at all. Canal+'s acquisition of MultiChoice, valued at about US$3bn and completed in 2026, is in substance a purchase of content rights, channel brands, Showmax and Irdeto's content-security technology. Diageo's agreed sale of 65% of East African Breweries to Asahi, reported at US$2.3bn, works the other way: Guinness and Johnnie Walker stay with Diageo and are licensed back across Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
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Software is the most common IP asset changing hands, in 40 of the 99 records, mostly banks and listed groups buying fintech platforms: Nedbank and iKhokha, Capitec and Avafin, Lesaka and Adumo, e-Finance and Tamweely in Egypt. Patent work clusters in health, from Medicines Patent Pool licences to the mRNA technology transfer programme in Cape Town.
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The implication: brand licences, content rights and software title are now price-setting terms in African M&A. They belong with specialists, not in a schedule at the back of the share purchase agreement. And the IP firms that publish dated matters with named clients are the ones that can be ranked on evidence.
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THE WEEK IN THREE MOVES
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01 | Airtel Money prices its London float at £1.96 a share
The pricing values Airtel Africa's mobile-money arm at £5.3bn and tests whether international investors will pay for African payments infrastructure at scale.
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02 | Tullow loses its ICC tax arbitration with Ghana
An ICC tribunal has upheld Ghana's US$196.5m tax assessment on Tullow's insurance proceeds, strengthening the hand of revenue authorities in disputes with upstream operators.
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03 | Attijariwafa takes control of Société Générale Ghana
Pan-African banking consolidation is now being led from Casablanca as the French bank continues its exit from African retail banking.
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ON THE RECORD
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The numbers behind the market
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99 IP-linked transactions and matters on the Meridian record, October 2024 to October 2026.
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US$3bn Approximate value of Canal+'s MultiChoice acquisition, the largest IP-led deal on the record.
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£5.3bn Valuation implied by the Airtel Money London float.
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N3.18 Cash per share offered to Unity Bank shareholders under the ProvidusUnity scheme.
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158 Lawyers ranked in Edition 2 of the Meridian Lawyer Index.
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THE DEAL DESK
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Three transactions worth knowing
1. ProvidusUnity. The Supreme Court sanctioned the scheme itself on 1 June 2026, which Jackson, Etti & Edu, counsel to Providus Bank, describes as a first for a Nigerian merger. Unity shareholders could take N3.18 in cash or 18 new shares for every 17 held.
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2. MNT-Halan's EGX float. Gibson Dunn, Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy and White & Case are on the 20% listing in Cairo.
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3. Mercuria and Exergy. A US$250m commitment to Zambian power assets, and a bet on open-access electricity trading.
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REGULATORY RADAR
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Nigeria Upstream: the Presidency has deferred Project Delta, NNPC's sale of 30% to 35% stakes in oil blocks including OML 86, 88 and 137, ThisDay reported on 13 September. Indigenous buyers now face a gap in their pipeline until after the January 2027 elections.
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Kenya Land: the Malindi Environment and Land Court has ordered the status quo on the Lamu refinery site pending a hearing on 14 October.
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MERIDIAN DATA
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The Meridian Lawyer Index, Edition 2
158 lawyers are ranked on verified matters, weighted by deal size, cross-border reach, role, evidence quality and recency. Directory placements carry no weight.
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The top five: Mohamed Abdel Fattah (Matouk Bassiouny & Hennawy), Dupe Dabiri (TEMPLARS), Ajibola Asolo (Aluko & Oyebode), Zelda Akindele (TEMPLARS) and Dayo Okusami (TEMPLARS).
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THE FIRST AFRICA IP RANKING
1 Adams & Adams, 2 Spoor & Fisher, 3 ENSafrica, 4 Von Seidels, 5 Eldib & Co. Matters on record carry most of the weight. Below second place the ranking rests on recognition and reach, and we say so on the table. Kenya's Dentons Hamilton Harrison & Mathews and Iseme, Kamau & Maema are next in line.
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WHY THIS MATTERS
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Rankings built on reputation tell clients who is known. Rankings built on the record tell them who did the work. This edition shows why that matters: the most valuable IP in Africa moved inside share deals, Nigeria's most contested bank merger closed only in the Supreme Court, and the country's largest planned upstream sale stalled on politics. In each case, the evidence is in the documents, not the announcements.
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WHAT WE ARE WATCHING NEXT
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01 | Lamu hearing, 14 October. Whether the Kenyan court lifts or extends the status quo order.
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02 | MNT-Halan's Cairo debut. Pricing and demand on the EGX.
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03 | Quickmart's offer document. Timing, pricing and the advisers named.
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04 | Project Delta. Any sign of a relaunch after the elections.
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05 | Meridian webinar, 19 November, 1pm WAT. Details to follow.
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FROM THE MERIDIAN DESK
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Firms are welcome to submit transactions and matters for verification. Submission does not guarantee publication.
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Evidence over narrative. Context over noise. Quality over volume.
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